Text Message Book Review (and Faith Table Decor!)

Hello little blog. It's been a while!! I miss you. 

Good-bye August:

Hello September: 

Exhalation of the Cross (Sept. 14) from Seton Art 1 made a few years ago- I should have 3, but boys would always give them away to sisters and grandma!

Saints for Sept. coloring pages from Waltzing Matilda Blog- colored and laminated a few years ago for our "month of saints" study. 

 Also from Seton Art 1- colored by my boys a few years ago. 

And, for those who might be interested, an impromptu text message "book review" from my 19yo daughter, Erin. You get to read it at your leisure- I think the text came through like at 1 a.m. or something! Either way, I enjoyed reading it. 

First Text From Erin: 

"Hey so I picked up that book you gave me for Easter, "extreme makeover", and so far it's really good. I like it because it doesn't really say "you should do this or that" or "this is bad" -it more speaks in general terms and gives statistics (a lot of references to studies). So things that don't really apply are still interesting."

A While Later: 

"I like how it's a more concrete and logical approach to beauty, chastity, modesty, faith and just living life. It's cool cuz like I said the book is more telling stories, listing statistics, sharing personal experiences, then at the end of every chapter there are a list of more personal questions to ask yourself. So the chapters are good to get you thinking and also helps you see how to kind of defend your view..rather than saying "in this christian book I read",  you can say "well I read that 9/10 women would say..blank" you know?"  

And then: 

"It's less idealistic and abstract and has more real information to help for your conscience. :)"

Finally, a return message in response to a text back from me (that I don't have a record of):

"Ya,  I like it cuz it doesn't feeel like a faith book lol. And also I think it's good to not be reading one about couples. I can just focus on myself."

Weird format, I know, but I thought you could get the full "text message feel" that way! :) 

Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary

I am so thankful to those bloggers out there who share particularly "doable" ideas.

At the last minute today, I visited "Family at the Foot of the Cross" and found this brownie idea. I did not have a brownie mix (found a super simple recipe on the Internet) or the pearl dust (we used powder sugar) that are called for, and my Fleur-de-lis did not come out perfectly, but we were happy with it just the same. This flower represents purity, but this post at Family at the Foot of the Cross gives a beautiful explanation of the symbolism as it relates to this special day.

I also had a beautiful representation of Mary from a Christmas card to put on (mod podge) our white candle for our feast day table setting:

To end our day, this from Marian Devotions in the Domestic Church:

Many North American families continue a custom brought from the "Old Country" of blessing the family on January 1. The father makes the Sign of the Cross on the foreheads of his wife, children, and other relatives living in the home, saying: May God bless you and keep you safe in the coming year.


We did not have time to do this project that was on our "list", but will work on it this week:

Decorate Mary candle to be used on all Marian Feast Days for the year. (I want to find a taller one than we have for today's feast day table)

Wishing you a Happy, Holy New Year!

Our Lady of Guadalupe

We set the table:

Read some books:

And ate:

 Some seriously yummy Mexican Crispa Treats  (Catholic Cuisine).

The Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception

After mass this morning we settled in to do some crafts and reading.

For our reading, we used Advent, Christmas and Epiphany in the Domestic Church and "The Girl With a Mission: St. Catherine Laboure" (CHC Reading Comprehension Vol. 1) .

Our crafts came from some fantastic online resources.

This crafty candle idea came from My Little Flower.

We are making an Our Lady of Guadalupe candle just like hers. :)

We found this great print out from Family in Feast and Feria. I learned today that the official name for the "Miraculous Medal" is the "Medal of the Immaculate Conception". There were so many conversions, cures, healings and blessings obtained by those wore or carried this medal that the name "Miraculous" stuck.

 Mark tried his medal on for size, but we decided to hang them in the kitchen window.

Our feast day table:

That awesome coloring page in the center is from Catholic Icing.

I have to admit that my boys, even being the good sports that they usually are, sort of balked when they saw the coloring page. We talked about the meaning of the picture- which they thought was pretty cool- and  agreed to each color a part of it if I colored the face. Done. :)

*Please understand that my boys unwillingness to want to color the picture is in no way reflective of how adorable the picture is. Or, rather, maybe it is. ;)

Their idea of a really cool picture to color was St. Sabastian from Paper Dali- a saint with weapons! That is okay. I love this one and they were willing to color it for me.

We also watched Bernadette: The Princess of Lourdes.

Two Feast Days

September 14th- The Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross
and
September 15th- The Feast of the Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary

You can listen to a brief explanation of these feast days by clicking on the feast day name.

We did a craft for each of these days as well as reading about each feast day in our Saint of the Day book. My "go-to" craft source is our Seton Art 1- it is a first grade book (my boys are a bit older than that), but it has a nice simple craft for many of our feast days throughout the year.

While the crafts in this book are simple, they are not childish, so even my older two boys don't balk at helping out. The purpose of these crafts is for us to spend some time together creating while learning about some of the treasures of our faith.

Our two projects:

The boys worked together to make these two crafts.

The cross for the Sept. 14 feast day.

Our Lady of Sorrows mobile- the pictures don't do it justice. Mary is at on top with 7 hearts hanging from a ribbon below- each heart has one of the sorrows printed on it. The bottom oval has the title "The Seven Sorrows of Our Lady".

Even if you missed the Sept. 15th feast day, it is not too late to honor "Our Lady of Sorrows". The month of September is dedicated to this devotion. You can read more about it at About (dot) com and find some more cool craft ideas at Catholic Icing.